The Social Security Administration has digitized or removed signature requirements for many application and information forms to ease the filing burden on millions of consumers.
The updates include transitioning from physical signature requirements to digital signatures for over 30 forms, as well as removing the signature requirement entirely for 13 forms.
Following the updates, SSA will now allow an electronic signature on 90% of the most commonly used forms by filers in local field offices. Collectively, these forms represent about 14 million signed forms submitted annually, according to the SSA, and the changes should reduce the number of claims needing to be sent back or denied for administrative reasons.
"Across forms that Americans use most often, we're eliminating as many pain points as possible, from helping people sign at the click of a button to reducing the need to drive or mail something in whenever possible," Martin O'Malley, the agency commissioner, said in a statement.
O'Malley said the updates will result in faster and more error-free processing for filers.
